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A big, rewarding novel about art, politics, family, terrorism, courage, and happiness.
Promise Whittaker, the diminutive but decisive acting director of the National Museum of Asian Art, is pregnant again- and that's just the beginning of her difficulties. Her mentor, the previous director, suddenly walked away from his job with no explanation, and now is on a dig somewhere in the Taklamakan desert. Her favorite curator has dropped their newest treasure, a bowl once owned by Thomas Jefferson, during the ceremony celebrating its acquisition. Another colleague, desperate for a son, has been embezzling from the museum to pay for her fertility treatments. And, her far too handsome, far too elusive ancillary director is clearly up to no good.
Confronting challenge after challenge at work and at home, Promise is one of the most offbeat, original, winning characters in recent fiction. The Bowl Is Already Broken is all brains, all soul, and all heart-brimming with ideas, provocative, and deeply satisfying.
Promise Whittaker, the diminutive but decisive acting director of the National Museum of Asian Art, is pregnant again- and that's just the beginning of her difficulties. Her mentor, the previous director, suddenly walked away from his job with no explanation, and now is on a dig somewhere in the Taklamakan desert. Her favorite curator has dropped their newest treasure, a bowl once owned by Thomas Jefferson, during the ceremony celebrating its acquisition. Another colleague, desperate for a son, has been embezzling from the museum to pay for her fertility treatments. And, her far too handsome, far too elusive ancillary director is clearly up to no good.
Confronting challenge after challenge at work and at home, Promise is one of the most offbeat, original, winning characters in recent fiction. The Bowl Is Already Broken is all brains, all soul, and all heart-brimming with ideas, provocative, and deeply satisfying.
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Reviews
"This multi-layered, erudite novel implies that it is only in the face of destruction, in the gathering of the shards, that meaning and humanity reside."
San Francisco Chronicle
"An authoritative novel about the museum world. . . . Her wit is equal to her wisdom."
The Seattle Times
"The Smithsonian Institute is many things, most of them quite wonderful . . . but to the best of my knowledge it has rarely if ever been the inspiration and setting for a novel. . . . Zuravleff is very smart, knows her subject and writes very well."
The Washington Post